1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device and an image forming apparatus that display a preview image of a page for which a job is to be executed within one data item. The invention also relates to a method of displaying a preview image.
2. Description of Related Art
There are information processing devices and image forming apparatuses that display a preview image of a page to be printed or transmitted. The preview image is referenced to confirm whether or not a result desired by a user can be obtained (whether or not there is no error in settings). For example, by preview image display, it is possible to confirm whether or not a specified page is appropriate. Further, it is possible to confirm whether or not a large number of pages include a page that must not be transmitted.
As an example thereof, there is known an information processing device that performs preview display as described below. Specifically, there is known an information processing device that gives a transmission instruction to transmit transmission data to a specified destination, which includes display means for displaying preview information, display switching means for giving an instruction to switch display of the preview information, determination means for determining whether or not all items of the preview information have been displayed by the display means, and transmission instructing means for giving the transmission instruction to transmit the transmission data to the specified destination when it is determined that all the items of the preview information have been displayed. On this information processing device, the transmission instruction is not given unless all the items of transmission data have been output in advance, and the user is required to confirm (all) contents of the transmission data.
First, there is a case where the information processing device (for example, personal computer) transmits data to the image forming apparatus and causes the image forming apparatus to perform a printing job. Alternatively, there is a case where data accumulated on the image forming apparatus is reused for printing or transmission. At this time, the user may perform printing or the like by specifying some pages from among a plurality of pages. However, there is a case where the user erroneously specifies a page different from a desired page. In particular, in a case of selecting one or several pages from among tens of pages or hundreds of pages, the user is liable to make an error in specifying a page.
When the printing or transmission is performed on the erroneously specified page, the result desired by the user cannot be obtained. This causes waste of resources such as paper, toner, and power. Further, it is wasteful to take time to make settings again. This raises such a problem that the user should be allowed to confirm whether or not the specified page is a desired page by the preview image or the like.
It is true that failures in the printing or transmission may be reduced by, as in the case of the above-mentioned known information processing device, displaying the preview images of all pages after the user specifies the pages. However, the above-mentioned known information processing device allows the transmission only after all the preview pages have been viewed. Therefore, the transmission or printing of a large number of pages (for example, several tens to several hundreds of pages) of data requires an enormous amount of time only to confirm the preview pages. Further, forcing the user to view all the preview pages while confirmation of only a necessary part suffices may causes the confirmation to be inaccurate and to lack careful attention. Accordingly, the above-mentioned known information processing device is troublesome for the user, thereby presenting a problem of being impractical and inefficient.